In order to help keep this as short as possible I did not include everything. Most of what is missing can be seen by reading back on the blog.
Thursday March 20th 2008 started as most other days had started. I did notice some extra discharge but just assumed it was the typical pregnancy junk, afterall I was 25 weeks to the day and knew that the discharge was going to be coming soon. I made a trip to the store to pick up some groceries and upon coming home started nesting. I had some back cramps the whole day but I assumed I had just overdone myself so I decided to take a nice long bath. That helped to "wash away" the discharge and ease things with my back. I went to bed feeling much better than I had during the day.
On the 21st things were going great. I had to wear a pantyliner most of the day because the discharge was back with a vengence. I really thought that I had a yeast infection. So, back to the bath I went... I washed up and then started sewing my first diaper on the sewing machine while I waited for Alos nurse Verda to come.. I was finishing the diaper right when she came. I gave her report then around 10pm headed into the living room to sit with Fallon.
We sat beside each other on the loveseat watching funny videos on youtube (one of our favourite pasttimes). Around 11:00pm I had to use the bathroom so I got up and went tinkle, came and sat back down to continue with the youtube funnies About 10 minutes later I felt the need to use the bathroom again. As I was standing up I felt a trickle of fluid and thought I was urinating on myself. I started walking to the bathroom and just stopped in my tracks not even 5 feet away. I was pouring fluid down my legs. I knew then that it was not urine. My water had definitely broken. I grabbed my crotch thinking it would really help it and told my sister that my water broke. I dont know how she reacted like she did but she jumped up, grabbed the telephone from Alos room and called 911. While she was on the phone with them she was looking around for a blanket for me to lay on in the floor so I wouldnt soak the floor. I asked her to find me a waterproof blanket (I had a specific wool blanket in mind but forgot that I had placed it in the washer that day).
She found no blanket but grabbed me a puppy training pad (like a chux pad). I layed on it in the floor while she was on the phone with 911. The entire time I was laying down I felt fluid just gushing out. When my water intially broke I did not even bother to change my clothes. As I was on the floor I started to feel some contractions. I started praying to myself "Please do not let this baby come right now. Please let me make it to the hospital."
About 10 or so minutes after the 911 call the fire department arrived. 3 fire fighters came into the house. The first one that walked in asked me what was going on. I told him my water had broken and he asked me why I had not had the baby yet. He was joking but I was very upset with his joke. My sister told him that I was only 25 weeks pregnant and he simply said Oh. The second firefighter started taking my vitals and the 3rd was just kind of watching everything. He seemed the be the "lookout" and kept going outside to wait on the ambulance.
The ambulance took a bit longer to arrive. Im sure it felt like much longer than it actually was. When they got to the house they brought in a stretcher and I got onto it. I was a little embarassed when I stood up because my pants were soaked and with every little step I could feel more fluid coming out.
I got into the ambulance and it seemed to take forever for them to leave the driveway. In reality it was probably just a few minutes before we started making our way to the hospital. Before that though they took my vitals again. I was pretty scared and nervous. My blood pressure was as high as it has ever been. It was 123/76.
The paramedic in the back of the ambulance with me was a guy and he was telling me all about his day and the calls he had been on. I must say he had a very interesting day and I laughed almost the entire way to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital I was taken straight to a Labour and Delivery room. It just so happened to be the exact same room that I delivered Alo in. It really brought back memories.
I got up off of the stretcher... More fluid leaked out... made my way to the bed, got undressed and into a hospital gown. Im normally not a fan of them in the least but it was a tad bit refreshing to get out of my soaked clothes and into something dry.
As I was getting into the bed the nurse that was going to be taking care of me used an amnisure strip, swiped it across my clothes and confirmed what I already knew. She said "You have definitely ruptured" as if it was not obvious enough from the amount of fluid on my clothes.
I was checked for dilation and was still the same 2cm I had been since around 15 weeks but I was now 60% effaced. I was hooked up to the monitors and was told I would be given an IV for mag and antibiotics and some steroids. I was very anxious to receive the mag despite the problem I knew it came with. It took almost 2 hours from the time I arrived for them to put in the IV, start the mag and administer the steroids.
Throughout the night I was very uncomfortable. On admission I was put into the trendelenburg position and was unable to move. I was having contractions every few minutes but could not get comfortable with them. I had started bleeding and was continuing to leak fluid.
The next day (the 22nd) things were still the same.. Contractions every few minutes and no way of getting comfortable. The mag was slowly increased throughout the day and I was given procardia to help stop the contractions.
What happened next was kind of a blur. The 23rd I remember my sister brining Alo to the hospital but I was so out of it from the mag that I could not even turn myself over in the bed. The contractions had slowed down but the mag was really taking a toll on me and wearing me out. My blood pressure was dropping really low (70/30's - 60/20's etc) so the procardia was stopped. My contractions had completely stopped by this time so they slowly started weaning the mag. On Monday the 24th I was moved out of the L&D room and into a room on the antepartum unit...It was the exact same room that I had been in only 2 weeks before. I was to remain in this room until my baby was delivered.
As I was being moved I just kept thinking to myself that things were going to change and I would be moved back into the L&D room but things seemed to be holding steady. When I got into the room and settled I rang for the nurses so I could use the restroom. One came in, unhooked all of my machines and told me I could get up to use the restroom... *SHOCK* I was not expecting that. I had been using the bedpan so I assumed I would continue using it. Needless to say I was pleased that I was able to use the restroom on my own but a little worried for my baby.
Anyway, on my way to the restroom I felt fluid running down my legs. When I got into the restroom I was turning around to close the door and noticed a puddle of blood on the floor. I thought to myself "Here we go" but nothing happened. I continued to bleed off and on, heavily then not heavily for the next few days.
Every few days I received ultrasounds and Biophysical Profiles. Twice a day I had to do NST's. The baby seemed to be tolerating everything well. My WBC was being monitored every day. It fluctuated but nothing too majour. I was still on the antibiotics so they just kept watching the WBC.
On the 29th I started having decreased fetal movement. It continued on to the 30th. A BPP was repeated and the score was lower than what it had been. The doctor wanted to wait the day out and see what the next day brought. I was expecting things to change and the baby to do better, but the baby only got worse. The heartrate started dropping and I still felt very little movement. The BPP was repeated on the 31st and the numbers were no better.
The decision was made to deliver the baby that day only 26 weeks and 4 days along. I had a very hard time with this choice because it meant a c-section, but I agreed because it was what my baby needed.
I called my sister to let her know but I could not get her to answer the phone. I called Courtney and asked him to call my mother and have her call me at the hospital. She called me and I let her know what was going on. I continued to call my sister for about 40 minutes when she finally came into the room. She had been on her way up to the hospital to surprise me and had no clue that the decision had been made to deliver that day.
The neonatologist came to speak to me about my care plan.. He gave me hell for some of the things on it but quickly realised that I was serious with everything in it and he backed down. He knew that I was not going to change my mind on some things.
The NICU nurse that had taken care of Alo when he was born came to speak to me as well as a whole slew of other people, mostly NICU related.
The anesthesiologist came to speak to me about epidural and spinal options.
Everything was falling into place for a smooth c-section delivery.
We were given a time of around 5.30 - 6pm but as things would go the doctor had to do a delivery at another hospital so we got stuck waiting. While I was in no rush to get my baby out I was anxious to get things over with. Around 7pm I was taken into the operating room. The spinal/epidural was put in and I layed back.. I was prepped for surgery then Fallon and Eden were allowed into the operating room. In my birth plan I had requested that if a c-section be needed that I be allowed to watch the entire thing, or for somebody to tell me everything that was going on as it occured and for the curtain to be dropped as my baby was being delivered so I could see it happen. Luckily they agreed to the first. I was allowed to watch the entire surgery and no drape or curtain was ever put up. I was positioned under a mirror. Fallon and Eden got to sit at the head of the bed and they could see everything as well.
Things were going great... then I heard the doctor say "footling breech". No big deal I thought.. Babies are delivered breech c-section all of the time... But this was not expected. The ultrasound earlier that day had shown the baby head down. The incision was not cut big enough for the doctor to deliver the baby breech. I was informed that the doctor was now doing a "T" on my uterus. My heart sank. I knew this was not good. The doctor just casually told me that because of the "T" I would never be able to have another vaginal delivery and that all future babies would have to be c-section. My mind was made up right then that there would be no more future babies. I would not have another c-section. I did not even want the one that I was in the middle of.
The doctor continue to cut away to try and free the baby. After a few minutes that seemed like many more the baby was delivered (8.28pm) and handed off to the awaiting NICU team. I heard little cries. My baby was breathing. I lay on the table trying to listen to every little cry I could... Then the cries stopped. My baby was intubated. This is when I overheard the neonatologist say "She" this and "she" that giving my doctor reports on how my baby was doing... My baby girl... I had a girl.. I was happy about that but very sad that they announced it without letting me find out on my own. I was very specific with that in my birth plan that nobody was to mention the gender until I found out on my own. Signs were hung in the OR and everybody was told... Apparently everybody but the neonatologist.
Around this time I was starting to feel a lot of pain as the medicines were starting to wear off and the doctor was still working on delivering my placenta which ended up being another problem as I placenta accreta and it was not detected with any of my ultrasounds. The problems did not stop there. My placenta was in pieces as it came out. Parts of it had literally dried up inside of me. No wonder my baby was having problems!
I started to somewhat dose off from the pain medicine they had given me. As I was falling asleep my sats started dropping so I was startled awake by the nurse telling me to take deep breaths. The doctor was still working on the placenta at this time and I was still feeling pain. The nurse that was helping the doctor asked me if I wanted to find out the gender before the baby was taken away.. I told her no that I had overheard the doctor mention it and then I started crying. One small thing that I wanted control of was taken away from. It was a minor thing compared to everything else but to me it was HUGE.
My baby was then walked around to me so I could tell her bye as she was being taken to the NICU. I could not see her face at all. The only thing I saw was the ET tube.
The doctor had removed as much placenta as he could and was just starting on sewing my uterus up so it was going to be a while still before I could get an even better look at her. About 30 minutes later he was finally finished and I was taken into a recovery room where I was made to wait about an hour before I was wheeled on a stretched into the NICU to see my girl.
She was perfect. The nurses assured me that she did not have spina bifida and that she was doing well. She was placed on a ventilator, given umbillical lines and a blood transfusion, all things very common with preemies.
Her weight was stated as 885 grams - 1# 9oz but turned out to be wrong. She *was* 885 grams but it translates differently. She was 14 inches long. After seeing her, making sure she was ok and getting the vital stats I had to be wheeled into my new post partum room so I could rest and recover from the most horrible c-section ever.
The entire c-section took about 1.5 hours. During the c-section I lost a bit of blood and a few days later had to have an iron infusion before going home from the hospital. A few hours short of being 2 weeks exactly from the time I went into the hospital I was released. I was so happy to finally be going home but the worst was yet to come. I had to leave my baby at the hospital knowing it would be months before I could take her home.
People who helped welcomed baby Edelyn "Aybra" Morgen:
Mother - Khourtniey
Father - Eden
Auntie - Fallon
Grandmother - Debbie
Uncle - Courtney
Brother - Aloshua
After a few days big brother Kaia and Grandpa Jerry got to welcome Aybra earthside.
